Purgatory
by AgentT
Summary: Derek & Co. go to prison (again)
1. Purgatory

  
  
  
  
"All rise!" A voice shouted. And the room rose. Like the Red Sea, the crowd suddenly parted. Things were pushed inward out of the way; people were silent as if someone had died. Or were about to.   
"The honorable Judge Marin." The same voice called out as a robed man walked out from a side door and took a seat at the raised podium.   
  
The precession went on for hours. Neither side quite knowing what to do, nor overconfident. The suspense could be felt throughout the courtroom.   
  
Finally, the judgment came. The court was in hushed spirits as the Judge was handed the final decision as voted by the jury.   
  
"The court against Julian Toperson, the jury finds the defendant-"   
  
No one dared move.   
  
"Guilty."   
  
Half the court wept with tears of joy. The other, sadness. It was a grim day and a triumphant day. but for the main sitting in the front with the battered prison dress, it was neither grim or triumphant. It was just opportunistic.   
  
  
Those condemned to death were always the most cheerful, Ana thought. They walked gaily as if they weren't prisoners, nor were they about to die. Some of them acted as if they were taking a leisurely stroll in the park, occasionally stopping to admire a blooming flower.   
  
Those were the ones who were the sickest. The ones who didn't care even for their own lives enough to care for anyone else. These were the murderers. They don't execute someone for thievery. They don't kill someone for a hit and run. They don't execute Aaron for fraud. It wasn't fair. They did, however, execute those who had appalled an entire nation. The ones who sought to murder anyone and everyone as if they were set upon a "divine path." They were the ones who deserved to be murdered.   
  
But they're also the ones that didn't care. The ones that didn't have anything to live for, but to carry out their orders that they receive from the skies above, claiming that god himself had told them what to do….  
  
It wasn't a deed of God. It was never a deed of God. God would never do such a thing. It was their own sick temptation coupled with blame that drove mass murderers to their actions and ultimately their demise.   
  
And Ana hadn't reached that point.   
  
But she was determined to.   
  
  
Derek and Jason walked down the halls of the dank prison. Derek glanced at the printed blueprint he had. They were approaching the door that led to the execution chambers. If not for Jason, as well as his camera, he would feel completely like he was a prisoner being hauled to his death.   
  
Beside him, Jason's eyes were wide. He tried not to look at the prison cells and the lack of windows. He tried to stop his mind from emphasizing the cold concrete floors and the heavy bars.   
  
James Odell could never be more comfortable. He was the curator of the historical prison, and it was his workplace. He couldn't say the same for the two young men that followed him. He often thought with wry irony at the "historical" part of the prison. To think that in this country, something could be famous for so much death and murder…  
  
Derek hoped that the camera couldn't catch his breathing. For a human being, he didn't breathe particularly loud, but he was slightly on edge. After all, it was a prison. What was it about prisons that petrified people?   
  
As they approached the end of the long corridor, Jason breathed a sigh of relief. Derek nodded at Jason to tell him that he felt the same.   
  
"Well, here we are." Odell said, smiling like he was a tour guide in an art museum. "This is what you're looking for."   
  
Suddenly a shrill beep filled the air. Derek almost dropped the camera.   
  
"Ah, it's the office. You boys feel free to look inside. I'll be right back." He smiled and left, glancing at his pager. As the last of him disappeared around the corner, Jason turned to Derek.   
  
"D, I admit. This is the most insane thing you've thought up so far." Jason shook his head. He grinned.   
  
"You notice the air? It's really-"   
  
"Thick?" Jason supplied. Derek nodded. He waved a hand through the air as if he was trying to feel it.   
  
"It's suffocating." He muttered. "I guess they don't use the air conditioning that much." He gave Jason his camera. "Okay, I guess we should film the execution room."   
  
"That's creepy. People died there." Jason whistled. "You think they still have the noose in hanging from the ceiling?"   
  
As he pointed the camera at Derek, who stood with his back to the closed door, Derek took time to check his hair, as he always did. One experience without proper grooming before filming had taught him a lesson.   
  
"Okay. We're ready." Jason said, zooming in a bit.   
  
"Hey. Derek Barnes with Jason Tatum here in Eastpoint State Penitentiary in Leon County, Florida. The Freaky Links Team has uncovered what appears to be an article in a local newspaper back in 1922, documenting that seconds after Eastpoint inmate Julian Toperson was hung, several eyewitnesses heard what is said to be the words 'To those who stand silent, purgatory will not rest-'"   
  
Jason blinked for a moment and took one hand off the camera to rub his eyes. He opened them again and his eyes stopped.   
  
"D." He whispered as silent as he could. Derek was still going on.   
  
"-Now, the odd thing about this part is that everyone was watching Toperson as he was being tied up for the big heave ho. Eyewitnesses claim that that phrase, 'To those who stand silent, purgatory will not rest', was said after he was hung. It was confirmed as his voice, and exactly one year later, to the day he died, the prison suffered a massive fire-"   
  
"D!" Jason whispered. His eyes were glued to the LCD screen.   
  
Derek stopped mid-sentence and looked at his partner, a bit irritated.   
  
"What?"   
  
Jason looked up. His eyes went wide.   
  
  
  
"I can't believe this!" Lan said, staring at the computer screen.   
  
"Believe it." Jason said. "I saw him right there."   
  
The video footage was playing out. Derek's narration was loud and clear. But no one was paying attention to that. Everyone was paying attention to the figure in the left corner.   
  
"This is creepy." Lan said, pausing the footage.   
  
"It is. I mean you barely see him." Derek said. "And then you don't."   
  
"I saw him on the camera. And then he was gone when I looked up." Jason shook his head.   
  
"The prison curator, uh… Odell. He said there was no one in the building. All maintenance staff was off duty during those hours." Derek said, rubbing his eyes.   
  
"And those are definitely not maintenance uniform." Lan said, noting the man's distinct mode of dress. It was reminiscent of the classic 1920's.   
  
"So what do we do now?" Jason asked, looking at Derek.   
  
Derek ran a hand through his thick hair. He shook his head. "I think we should find out who this guy is."   
  
  
"I would love to say that the face 'doesn't ring a bell'." Odell said, his expression grim. "But I can't."   
  
"So you know who this is?" Derek asked. Lan had printed out a still of the mysterious visitor, which was in Odell's hands.   
  
"Of course I do." Odell said, sighing. "That's Aaron Parkinson. He was Julian Toperson's partner."   
  
"What did he do?" Derek asked him.   
  
Jeremy Odell took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. "Nothing, by all accounts. He was cleared of charges."   
  
"When did he die?" Jason asked.   
  
Odell squinted. "If memory serves, I think he died in the 50's. The library in the main hall has more information."   
  
For a moment, silence lingered in the air, no one knowing what to say to the other. Lan decided to speak at that moment. The shrill ring interrupted their silent thoughts and Derek pulled out his cell phone.   
  
"Hello?" Derek said.   
  
Lan sat at the computer, one hand on the keyboard, the other on the mouse, and the phone scrunched between her shoulder and her neck.   
  
"I looked at the video footage." Lan said, tapping on the keyboard.   
  
Derek sat up, suddenly more attentive. "What did you find?"   
  
"Well, there's no shadow. Which is really weird because you know that anything that has mass has to cause a shadow when there's light. And there was plenty of light."   
  
"That's creepy." Derek said, looking at Jason, who desperately wanted to know what Lan was saying.   
  
"It is. That's not all. I pulled up some information on Aaron Parkinson like you asked, and it turns out that he died in 1952, and he was a suspect in Toperson's murders. This guy Toperson was one nut job. He murdered at least 6 people. Parkinson was brought in as a suspect, but was later thought to be an accomplice in Toperson's murders. He was acquitted of the charges eventually and Toperson was left with all the blame." Lan scrolled down a page of information.   
  
"Thanks, Lan." Derek said.   
  
"You're welcome." Lan smiled. "And hey, I checked the prison record. Check Cellblock E. That's where Toperson stayed during his prison sentence."   
  
Derek smiled. "How could I ever live without you, Lan?" He said.   
  
"I don't know, but you better start being more careful with the computers, or you are going to be living without me." Lan said playfully. She was joking of course; she'd never leave Derek and Jason. It was for the sake of the computers that she chose to stick around. And besides, who'd offer the rational voice behind Derek's insane enthusiasm? "Face it, you'd be nuts without me around."   
  
"You know it." Derek said, laughing. They exchanged a few more words and Derek hung up.   
  
A few minutes later, Derek and Jason were retracing their steps.   
  
Derek held the camera and tried as best he could not to steer his eyes away from it too much.   
  
"The execution chambers are to the left. Cellblock E is to your right, through those doors and up the stairs." Odell said. "Every cell is marked with a letter so you'll know which one to look for."   
  
"Thanks." Derek said as Odell stepped aside. They went up the creaky stairs that had been refitted with steel years ago.   
  
"I thought these stairs were new." Jason said, glancing at the corrosion the wood suffered.   
  
"Not really. The wood is original. It's over 80 years old. When they declared this place historical a decade ago, they put metal beams under the staircase." Derek was barely audible. His eyes were focused solely on the camera's screen.   
  
"I thought they executed people out in the open." Jason muttered. "You know, have a hanging and then a buffet. Buy one get one free."   
  
"It was the 1920's…it was slightly more reformed then. Anyways, Eastpoint was one of the only prisons that held the worst criminals. Most of them were killed as soon as possible, without a sentence."   
  
Derek and Jason reached the top of the staircase. Jason opened the door slowly and they stepped inside. The lights were dim, but bright enough for both of them to see clearly.   
  
"Creepy." Jason remarked.   
  
"Very." Derek said, swinging the camera across the room to show the long stretch of cells, one after another, bland and dry.   
  
Abruptly, they heard a loud clanging. Jason and Derek turned around swiftly.   
  
"Probably just a rat or something." Jason mumbled. Derek nodded, even though Jason wasn't looking.   
  
They turned back around and kept on filming.   
  
"Hey." Jason said, smiling into one of the prison's security cameras. He knew Odell was watching them. Otherwise, they wouldn't be walking around the place alone.   
  
"Cellblock E." Derek said, as he stopped in front of one cell. It was the only one that wasn't marked in various graffiti from other inmates.   
  
"Is it open?" Jason asked.   
  
"I don't know." Derek said. They glanced at each other and Jason went to open the large gate.   
  
To his surprise, it opened easier than he had thought. "It works pretty well for being 80 years old." He said, pushing the gate open.   
  
"Check another one." Derek said, looking at the cells next to E.   
  
"Why?" Jason asked. After all, wasn't E the one they were looking for?   
  
"Just do it." Derek said, motioning towards the previous cell.   
  
Jason shrugged and went to push the gate. He frowned when it didn't open.   
  
"Are you psychic now?" Jason asked Derek.   
  
"No, I'm just suspicious."   
  
"Rather ye should be, boy." A raspy voice called.   
  
Derek scrambled for his tape recorder without even thinking of it. His camera recorded sound well enough, but he wanted to be sure.   
  
"Come on, speak again." He said, trying not to show the fear in his voice.   
  
"Derek, what are you doing?" Jason said, confused. "Who are you talking to?"   
  
"I'm talking to you, boy!" The voice said again. Derek spun around.   
  
He couldn't do anything but stare at the man sitting in the cell, concealed by the shadows.   
  
"Remember this. To those who stand silent, purgatory will not rest."   
  
Part 2   
  
"I don't know what you saw." Jason said. "But I didn't see anything."   
  
They were in the car on their way back home. Derek was wearily watching his taped footage from the cell. There was no trace of the man who he saw sitting in cellblock E.   
  
"He was there, Jason." Derek said. "I saw him. I turned on the tape recorder and everything."   
  
"But he's not on there, is he?" Jason said. He shook his head. "I believe you, trust me D, I do. But he's not on there. He's just not. I believe you when you say you heard something and you saw someone in the cell, but the camera was working and we didn't see anyone."   
  
"I know." Derek said. He closed his eyes for a second. Then it hit him…..   
  
"Absolutely not!"   
  
"Derek, I'm worried about you sometimes." Jason said, his eyes scrolling down a document.   
  
"Too bad he isn't worried about himself." Lan said. Derek turned around, grinning. His eyes were shining. But they weren't the shine that a child got when they entered the candy store. They were the shine of someone who had just found a new adventure. Someone who had just discovered something more exciting than anything that had happened before. Derek shined a lot.   
  
"Come on!" Derek followed Jason into the kitchen. Jason pulled a soda out of the fridge and perched on the counter.   
  
"No! This is insane! Seattle I could handle. New Orleans with the freaky vampires I could handle. A trip in the woods with a flying pterodactyl I could handle. This is just insane."   
  
"It's all for the sake of the world." Derek said.   
  
"Isn't it remotely disturbing to you?" Lan asked. "I mean, what you're even suggesting."   
  
"It's imperative." Derek said.   
  
"Food is imperative. Water is imperative. Caffeine is imperative. Staying the night in a prison is not imperative!" Jason said, pointing a finger at Derek.   
  
"Rather I go alone?" Derek said, picking his jacket off a chair.   
  
He shrugged and started to the door, retrieving his camera on the way out.   
  
The door shut with a silent click.   
  
Jason and Lan looked at each other. She sighed and he muttered to himself.  
  
"Ah hell." He said, and set his soda down. Putting on his jacket, he opened the door.   
  
Smiling blue eyes looked at him from the doormat.   
  
"You just knew, didn't you?" Jason said, shaking his head and pushing past.   
  
"The guilt trip always works." Derek said, laughing.   
  
"I'm telling you, this is insane." Lan said, shaking her head. "And I don't know how I got into this either."   
  
"I recall you wanting to go out into the field more, Lan." Derek said, smiling.   
  
"I guess I should've thought more before I said anything." Lan said.   
  
"We remembered all the equipment right?" Jason asked. "We don't want a repeat of last time." He looked at Derek, who shrugged and cast a 'who me?' look at Lan and Jason.   
  
"Yeah, we remembered it all." Lan said, pulling out the laptop.   
  
Soon they arrived. The three of them were greeted by no one.   
  
"I guess I shouldn't be expecting that fruit basket." Lan said as she got out of the car.   
  
Jason took a look at the sky. "It's going to rain soon." He said.   
  
"This place is pretty well built. We won't have to worry about leaks or anything." Derek said, and started to unload some equipment.   
  
"Hello?" Lan shouted once they were inside.   
  
Jeremy Odell hurried out, his arms full of papers.   
  
"Oh hello." He said. And then he frowned. "We've never had overnight visitors before." He shook his head. "No worries. Uh, we have a lounge down the hall and the prison is, as you know, through that door back there. There's two security guards every night. Al and Jim. Nice guys, really. If you need anything or if you have any questions, they're the people to go to."   
  
He dumped the stack of papers on a desk.   
  
"Here's your access card." He said, giving it to Derek. "The main entrance to the prison can only be opened from the inside. You'll need a card if you go in from here. You can stay in the lounge. The couches in there are pretty comfortable."   
  
He looked at his watch, and then out the window.   
  
Derek, Lan, and Jason looked quizzically at each other.   
  
"My wife has a dinner party tonight." He explained. "She'd kill me if I wasn't there on time."   
  
Derek nodded. He pocketed the card and started to lift some bags. Lan and Jason took the cue and did the same.   
  
They waved goodbye to Odell, who was shifting stealthily towards the door.   
  
"He's a bit off kilter." Lan remarked.   
  
Derek grinned as he pushed the lounge door open.   
  
The walls were drab, the furniture was probably from a yard sale, and the refrigerator didn't seem to refrigerate anything, but it was okay. They had been in worse.   
  
"You know, I'll be lucky if I don't get hurt this time." Derek muttered. He set the luggage down beside the television and opened the refrigerator. He smiled when he saw a full 24 pack of coke. He pulled one out and rolled it in his hands.   
  
"I guess the refrigerator doesn't refrigerate very well." He grinned and tossed two more cans to his partners.   
  
They sat in silence for a few moments, each of them pondering and sipping their drinks.   
  
  
Chloe tapped her foot against the plush carpet. She figured they were probably lost somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Thank God for cell phones.   
  
"Derek?"   
  
  
"Hey Chloe." Derek said.   
  
  
"Where are you guys?" She could hear the faint talking of two people in the background.   
  
  
"Eastpoint Penitentiary." Derek said. He grinned and managed to start taking out the equipment with one hand while holding the phone with the other hand. Lan and Jason both took a cue from this and started doing the same.   
  
  
Chloe felt the same urge to ask him the big three. Why was he there? What was he doing? And what exactly would she have to bring or wear to wherever he was because inevitably, he'd call in the middle of the night asking for her assistance.   
  
  
"Well, the Eastpoint Penitentiary is haunted." Derek said simply. "Or so we suspect."   
  
"Tell her about the creepy guy on the tape." Jason whispered.   
  
"Jason says hi." Derek smiled at his friend. "And he wanted to tell you about this really weird thing we found on the tape."   
  
  
"Well, tell him I'll see it when you call me in the middle of the night." Chloe said.   
  
  
Derek put a hand over the phone.   
  
"She thinks I'll call her in the middle of the night asking for help." Derek said.   
  
"It's like calling in the middle of a dinner, or a meeting, only with darkness and sleep involved." Lan said. "She'll get used to it. I know I have."   
  
  
"So really, why are you at a prison at-" Chloe checked her watch. "10:45 pm."  
  
"Well, as I said, we think that Eastpoint is possibly haunted. And since we are the Freaky Links team, we're kind of obligated to finding out whether it is or not." Derek sat down and turned on the laptop.   
  
  
Chloe drummed silently on her coffee table. She closed her eyes for a minute while Derek talked about the history of his current abode.   
  
She noticed her briefcase lying on the floor next to the door. She frowned as she remembered a report she had forgotten to do.   
  
  
"Chloe?" Derek said as he stopped for breath. Before she said anything, he went on.   
  
"So after the fire, they rebuilt sections of it-"   
  
"Chloe?" Derek said again.   
  
  
She snapped back into consciousness.   
  
"What?" She said, realizing she still had a phone.   
  
  
Derek was about to say something when a thudding interrupted the tranquil air.   
  
Lan stood up and Jason stopped fiddling with the cameras.   
  
"What was that?" Lan asked.   
  
"Probably a guard." Derek muttered. But he picked up the second camera while Jason hefted the first and he felt around for the blueprints without taking his eyes off the door.   
  
"Chloe I have to call you back." He said absently.   
  
  
"What? Derek?" Chloe said into the phone. She wasn't listening at full attention but if she wasn't mistaken, he was about to hang up and that would lead to much trouble.   
  
But there was a dial tone. And Chloe sighed and dropped the phone onto the couch.   
  
  
"Wait." Lan whispered. "There it is again."   
  
Indeed there was. A small thudding, barely audible, tracing from the hall. They could all hear it. It was almost a tapping, but dull enough that it sounded like it was made using a hard object with a cloth or a fabric wrapped around it.   
  
"Well are we going to-" Derek said, gesturing to the closed door.   
  
"I don't know. Should we?" Jason asked.   
  
"It's probably nothing." Lan said. Her eyes went down to the flashlights they had laid out on the beaten coffee table. She picked one up.   
  
"If it's nothing, why are we standing here with cameras and flashlights?" Jason asked.   
  
No one said anything.   
  
"Got the blueprint?' Lan asked, not taking her eyes off the door. The thudding continued.   
  
"Yep." Derek said.   
  
They all silently moved to the door.   
  
Derek put a hand on the handle and gripped it tightly.   
  
He breathed in.   
  
The thudding continued.   
  
He breathed out.   
  
The thudding got closer.   
  
He blinked a few times.   
  
And the thudding got louder.   
  
And Derek opened the door.   



	2. Default Chapter Title

Part 3   
  
Time had suddenly stood still. As if it had paused to contemplate what Derek, Lan, and Jason were doing at that moment, time had stood still. None of them dared let out a breath as Derek opened that door. Lan thought she was going to explode if she didn't start breathing again. Jason just tried to make sure that he had the camera ready. And Derek, well Derek was just himself, making his way through his mental checklist, making sure that he had everything he needed. Including the first aid kit.   
  
It was like a moment of bizarreness. Like one of those dreamlike science fiction sequences, where everything is either silver or a primary color, and the men and women all have odd haircuts in all sorts of colors. It was almost fluid. Really wavy and it just seemed to flow. Everything was truly silent and Jason could feel his head pounding to the beat of his own heart.   
  
And when Derek opened the door, it was like the gates of hell opening, flooding the room with evils and demons of unimaginable origin.   
  
Or it could've been a rat.   
  
Either way, Lan still had the same reaction.   
  
"Not again!" She shrieked as the brownish gray creature raced past them at breakneck speed and hid under the couch.   
  
Derek's heart was pounding. It kept a steady rhythm as he and Jason looked for the rat.   
  
"Oh gross." Lan said, finally breathing again. "I thought I'd never see one again. Guess I was wrong."   
  
"Here Ben." Derek muttered.   
  
"Ben?" Jason said, glancing at him.   
  
"Yeah, wasn't that a Michael Jackson song or something about rats?" Derek looked at them, perplexed.   
  
Jason shrugged. Sometimes he had no idea what went on in his friend's head. But it didn't matter. He helped Derek pull the couch out a bit and saw the rat sitting patiently behind it munching on a small crumb.   
  
"There it is." Jason muttered and looked at Derek. "Now what?"   
  
"Now you step back and let us catch it." A voice called from the door.   
  
The three of them jumped in shock.  
  
A guard with a net stepped into the room. He wore the standard navy guard's uniform.   
  
"Didn't mean to scare you there." He said. He smiled. "I'm Jim."   
  
"Derek Barnes." Derek said, regaining mental thought. "This is Jason and Lan."   
  
"We get these all the time. They run through the halls and they don't make a lot of noise, but the echo makes it deafening." Jim said, inching slowly toward the rat.   
  
"I won't be opening the door again, that's for sure." Lan said, stepping back.   
  
"It's all right." Jim said. His net dived toward the rodent. It squeaked in protest as Jim scooped it up with the net. He nonchalantly went to the door, the rodent still struggling for freedom. Lan didn't want to know what they did with it.   
  
"If you hear anything, it's best to open the door a small crack before you open it fully. The hall lights are on so you can see." Jim said, and left them.   
  
After the couch was moved back into place, the three sat down, exhausted.   
  
"Well." Derek looked at his watch. "It's 11:39 pm. shall we go hunting?"   
  
"What do we have so far?" Lan asked.   
  
"Okay, well we know that Toperson was executed and there was a fire a year later. The prison closed sometime after that and was declared historical about ten years ago. And we just got that video footage. Is it loaded into the site?"   
  
Lan nodded. "And I did a bit of looking around." She tapped on the laptop for a few seconds. "Julian Toperson is survived only by his daughter, an Ana Lagers, born in 1920."   
  
"So she was only two years old when her father was executed." Derek said, his eyes wide. "Talk about childhood trauma."   
  
"Really. Where does she live?" Jason asked.   
  
Lan squinted. "According to this, she lives right in Orlando, at the Juniper Center for Assisted Living."   
  
"So she should be about 80 years old." Derek said. "Was she ever married?"   
  
Lan shook her head. "Why?"   
  
"I just wanted to know if there were any other relatives." Derek shook his head. He took the flashlights and placed them in his backpack. Jason took the folded blueprints gave one to Derek and another one to Lan, who was storing the laptop. She gave the tape recorder to Jason and looked at the door.   
  
For a minute, none of them said anything. Their thoughts lingered in the air.  
  
Derek finally laughed a little and the others joined him.   
  
"Let's do the opening crawl." Derek said to Jason. "Get a shot of the room."   
  
"Aye, sir." Jason saluted and started filming. The camera settled back to Derek after a turn around the room.   
  
"Hey Freaks. Derek Barnes here with Jason and Lan. We're at the Eastpoint Penitentiary, where we have dared to spend the night. It has been suggested that this top-security prison that was once home to some of Florida's most malicious criminals is haunted, and the Freaky Links team has recorded footage with an undeniable happening way up there on the freakiness scale. What it really is, we don't know, but we're hoping to find out tonight."   
  
Derek stopped in front of the door. He nodded to the others.   
  
"Okay let's go."   
  
They walked through the halls; their footsteps echoing like the mice that had done so before. Despite the light that emitted from the bulbs of electricity, it was still a bit dark. Let's just say flashlights are a Freaker's best friends when you're walking down the hall of a haunted prison.   
  
"It's so cold." Lan commented. She pulled her jacket closer.   
  
"Yeah. The concrete doesn't make it any better." Derek said, casting a circle of light on the wall.   
  
"What are we looking for exactly?" Jason asked.   
  
"If I have any idea, I'll make note to tell you." Derek said. He sighed.   
  
For a few moments, they all stopped in the middle of the long hallway and stared at each other. Each of them wondered what direction they were really going.   
  
"I suggest we get something to eat." Derek said.   
  
"I second that." Jason said, snapping the camera's screen shut.   
  
"Hey, did you hear that?" Lan said.   
  
Derek frowned. "What?"   
  
"That tapping noise." Lan said. She motioned for them all to be quiet. "There."   
  
"That's probably another rat." Jason said.   
  
"Probably." Lan said, nodding. "Lets get something to eat."   
  
They started their retreat down the hall.   
  
But alas, it was destined among man that all members of the human persuasion have immense trouble finding their path during their stays in empty historical prisons in the middle of the night…  
  
"I'm telling you. We have to take a turn at Compton Hall, that way." Derek said, pointing behind him.   
  
"And the map says that Compton Hall links to Schuster Hall, which is the opposite direction of where we are." Lan said.   
  
"But you can loop through Schuster to get to Langly Hall, and that will bring us back to the main stairwell." Derek said.   
  
"Okay, let's just all calm down. Where are we right now?" Jason said.   
  
Derek shined a flashlight around him. "I think we're in Martens Hall."   
  
"I didn't see a stairwell back there, did you?" Lan said. "it says Martens Hall has a stairwell back there."   
  
"Well, we might not even be in the same section so if we're right, there shouldn't be a door there." Jason said.   
  
"Isn't there a number we can call?" Derek asked.   
  
"What, you think Dominos delivers to a location specifically known as 'the middle of a hallway'?" Lan asked.   
  
Derek threw his hands up. "No, I meant a number to call the guards."   
  
"I don't know. It was probably in that set of papers that Odell left." Jason said.   
  
"And I think we left that in the lounge." Lan said. She groaned.   
  
They continued walking onward, not really knowing where to go. They passed by cell after cell, hollow and lonely, no longer inhabited.   
  
"This is way too creepy." Lan muttered. She tried to focus her eyes away from the darkness that lingered in the barred cubes.   
  
"It is. Even for me." Derek said, trying not to glance sideways.   
  
"It's freezing here." Jason said, zipping up his jacket.   
  
"Yeah, it was freezing back there too." Derek said.   
  
"But it's especially cold here." Jason said.   
  
"Yeah, now that I think of it. It's colder around here."   
  
"Really?" Derek said, looking at Lan. His eyes grew wide as her hair gently twisted.   
  
"Did you just see that?" Derek said.   
  
His pulse quickened.   
  
"See what?" Jason asked, puzzled.   
  
"Lan, your hair. It just-it just moved. Like there was a wind." Derek said.   
  
"So? It could've been air from the vents." Jason said.   
  
"What was that?" Derek asked.   
  
"What?" Lan asked.   
  
"That rumble."   
  
There was indeed a rumbling. It was silent and low, but audible. It vibrated through the entire hallway, bouncing off the concrete walls, using it as a giant subwoofer.   
  
"What's going on?" Lan said.   
  
All of a sudden, the cell gates rapidly receded, sliding open with such a force. And they all did it in unison. Cell after cell, on both sides, they slid open as if someone had pushed the button to open them all.   
  
The sound was deafening. Derek thought his eardrums would burst. But he couldn't think much. And for some odd human reaction, they all desired to throw their arms up in front of them, as if the cell gates would fly off and hit them.   
  
It went on for a seemingly endless amount of time. In a matter of seconds, the cells were all open, and each done by a phantom hand.   
  
"I don't think that was air from the vents." Derek said, gasping for breath.   
  
Part 4   
  
"What the hell was that?!?" Jason shouted.   
  
They were running through the halls, though still cautious as to where they were running specifically. Even chaos and loss of direction needs order sometime. After all, would you want to get even more lost after seeing what you just saw?   
  
"I don't know." Derek said. "This way." He shoved his way through a door and raced up the stairs. "Whatever it was, I'm glad I had the camera." He chuckled a bit at the thought.   
  
He finally got to a door and pushed it open. He breathed a sigh of relief as the hall became familiar to him.   
  
"How we found our way back, I don't know." Jason said, catching up. "But good job." He laughed a little and remembered the camera. Still running, he stopped the dizzy filming and righted it.   
  
"Hey!" A voice shouted. The three looked to the left to see a guard rushing down. "What are you kids doing here?"   
  
The camera swung to show an older man in the same blue uniform the other guard had.   
  
"We're staying the night here." Derek said. "We're making a documentary." It was his standard excuse. What would he say? Hi, my name is Derek Barnes, and I run a website where I post things about the paranormal…would you like to be apart of our official investigation? It wasn't that he wasn't proud of what he did; he just found it easier to get access to places when he sounded more professional…  
  
"We got a look at the Marten Hall cameras." He shouted, even though he was standing directly in front of them.  
  
"You saw it too?" Derek asked, his eyes widening.   
  
"What's going on here?" Jim came behind them.   
  
"We saw the cell doors open. All of them." Lan said.   
  
"Something's going on." Jason said, shaking his head. "Something is definitely going on."   
  
"You mean you didn't open the doors?" Lan asked.   
  
"No. We can't do that anymore. We disabled the automatic controls a few years ago." Jim said. "And there aren't any manual controls."   
  
"If you kids didn't do it….its against prison regulation, but you should look at the security tapes. My name is John by the way."   
  
Derek nodded a hello. "Derek Barnes." He looked at the other two. "Jason Tatum and Lan Williams."   
  
"Let's go take a look at those tapes." Jim said. "I doubt that you want to stand in the middle of the hallway."   
  
"It's okay. Not everything has to be about the paranormal." Lan said, as Jim and John led the way to the main level security room.   
  
"Hey you think Dominos delivers here?" Derek muttered as they rounded the corner.   
  
"Okay. You three are right there." Jim said. "It happens almost instantly."   
  
Jason frowned. He shook his head. "No, not it didn't."   
  
"What do you mean?" John asked.   
  
"I remember, before it happened, we heard this rumbling." Jason said. "It was really low."   
  
"Yeah, I remember it too. It sounded like a drum." Lan looked at the camera. "That's when we were talking about it. And then it happened."   
  
Sure enough, the video played out and the cells opened. Derek stifled a laugh. It was almost sheer horror that had propelled them away from that section of the prison. But on camera, they just looked like scared puppies. Which he didn't gather they were very far from.   
  
"That's it. Then we just ran." Derek said, shrugging. Something caught his eye.   
  
"Hey, look." He said. "Is that the Marten Hall cameras?"   
  
Jim shook his head. "No, they aren't. Those are the Compton Hall cameras. What the hell is that?"   
  
Derek didn't say anything. He turned the volume up.   
  
"What? I don't hear-"   
  
"Shh!" Derek silenced Lan. "Hear that?"   
  
Whatever super hearing capability Derek possessed, Lan wondered if it had to do with the anchovies he ate.   
  
Do you ever get the feeling that there's something there? That after a long day of looking at the same stuff, researching the same topics, or watching the same videos, that something is there, watching with you?   
  
Derek turned the volume up louder.   
  
"What is that?" Jason asked, finally hearing what Derek had been hearing.   
  
"Listen." Derek said as he put his tape recorder to the monitor speakers.   
  
Then the lights went out.   
  
"Must be the storm." Jim said, handing John a flashlight. Derek, Lan, and Jason provided their own.   
  
"It's raining pretty heavy outside." Jason said, tapping on the glass.   
  
"The cameras are running on a separate power grid. That way no one can disconnect them from the main electrical box." Jim said, picking up the phones. "They did, however, fail to move the phones to another grid also."   
  
The volume was still up. A loud assortment of banging filled the air and everyone grimaced. Jason quickly turned the knob down and his breath caught in his throat.   
  
"Hey."   
  
The cells were opening again. Down in Compton Hall, in a pair, two by two, they were receding once more.   
  
Just opposite of it, on the Marten Hall cameras, the cells started to close. Silent bombs went off in their heads as they imagined the noise that vibrated through the metal bars.   
  
None of them spoke.   
  
Derek shined his flashlight on his watch. 1:08 am.   
  
"Okay." Derek knew he had to move on. He looked to the guards. "Do you know anything about the former inmates here?"   
  
Jim nodded. "It was standard training for the job." He said slowly and chuckled. "I guess they were planning for a future visit from you."   
  
Derek laughed nervously. "Guess so."   
  
Minutes later, they had all their flashlights focused on a table where every bit of information they had was spread out on it.   
  
"Julian Toperson was executed in 1922 for mass murder. Now, during his execution, after he was killed, the entire staff, including the warden, heard one phrase said. It was a talking head too, no one knew who said it. And it was in Julian Toperson's voice. "   
  
"I read on that a bit." John said, rubbing his eyes. "His partner was-I can't remember his name."   
  
"Aaron Parkinson." Lan supplied. John nodded.   
  
"Everyone thought he was the one who did it. Commit all those murders, I mean. But Toperson ended up with the jail sentence."   
  
"So he might have been accused wrongly." Jason said. "Parkinson really did it but blamed it on Toperson so he could get off the hook."   
  
"But it's Toperson that haunts the prison." Derek said.   
  
"But we saw Parkinson on the video tape." Lan said.   
  
"What video tape?" Jim asked, a bit confused.   
  
Derek looked at Lan and nodded. He turned to the two guards. "You should see this."   
  
"Amazing." Jim said as he watched. His brown orbs glowed in contrast to the laptop screen.   
  
"I don't believe in ghosts and ghouls." John said. He shook his head. "But there's something strange, that's for sure."   
  
"And now this, the sound we got off the video monitor." Derek placed his tape recorder on the table and turned it on.   
  
Amid the static and the hushed bits of dialogue that had been exchanged during the taping, one set of words came through.   
  
"To those who stand silent, purgatory will not rest." Lan said. "There it is again."   
  
"Do you think you can comprehend it, boy?"   
  
Derek spun around.   
  
"What is it?"   
  
"They can't hear anything." The voice said again.   
  
"You guys didn't hear that?" Derek said.   
  
The others shook their heads.   
  
"What did you hear?" Jason asked.   
  
"Before, in cellblock E." He looked at Jason. "The same voice."   
  
"This is getting too confusing." Jason said.   
  
"We should split up." John said. "Some of us go down to Martens Hall and the others go to Compton."   
  
Derek was still trying to piece things together. It was all incredibly confusing. And nothing seemed to correlate to anything else. But they needed to do something instead of sitting in a dark room.   
  
John took out two lanterns. He turned one on and the entire room glowed as if it was filled with candles. "These should be okay to get around with. The power won't be coming back on until I get to the auxiliary generator that's in Marten's Hall."   
  
Soon Jason, Lan, and Derek were retracing their steps again, heading towards Compton Hall. Jason was holding the camera while Derek held his, ready to switch it on.   
  
"Where's cellblock E?" Derek asked Lan.   
  
"I think it's in Schuster Hall." She said, looking at the blueprints.   
  
"Okay. Remember that." Derek said.   
  
They stopped. Ahead of them, the hall seemed like an endless pit. Even though the lantern was on, the fluorescent light casting odd shadows through the cell bars, it was still dark.   
  
"Hey Toperson." Jason muttered. "Where are you?"   
  
"You think he'd answer?" Derek said.   
  
"Don't know." Jason said, watching the camera he was holding. It followed them through the depths of the hall. "Don't know if I wanna know."  
  
Derek smiled and laughed. "Same here."   
  
"Hey you guys." Lan said, looking at the blueprint. A small pen light illuminated her search.   
  
"I wouldn't want to be him." Derek muttered.   
  
"From the looks of this place, I don't think anyone did." Jason said, his dark eyes surveying the cells.   
  
"Guys." Lan said again.   
  
"I wonder how Jim and John are doing." Derek said.   
  
"Probably already there. They know this place better than us."   
  
"Guys!" Lan said, her voice raised.   
  
Derek and Jason turned finally. Lan looked up at them and her expression was one of worry. Her eyes were bright.   
  
"What's that?" She pointed.   
  
"Holy-" Derek stepped back.   
  
Have you ever seen the cliché splatter of blood red on dark walls? This transcended any other cliché. This blood red cascaded down the bars and formed puddles on the floors, staining the concrete. Its horrifying letters signaled the return of something unusual and horrific. This splatter covered the entire wall above the cells, and stretched too far for anyone to have done themselves. This splatter said:   
  
To those who stand silent, purgatory will not rest  



End file.
